Wild patents are attacking Google; film at 11! The Magic Mouse is doomed... or is it? And when there’s no news, just reprint old rumors with a slight tweak. Plus, who gave a news mogul an unmanned drone? The remainders for Thursday, August 4, 2011 are cleared for takeoff.

Apparently we’ve moved on to the hair-pulling and name-calling portion of the patent war. Google senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond has taken aim at the company’s major smartphone rivals in a recent blog post, in which he alleges that Microsoft and Apple are buying up patents to use against Android.

Then Microsoft’s Frank Shaw posted an email exchange between Google general counsel Kent Walker and Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith, in which Walker says Google will decline to jointly bid with Microsoft and others for Novell’s patents. Drummond’s rebuttal doesn’t dispute Microsoft’s allegations, but rather says that Redmond is trying to sidestep the patent issue.

Hey, uh, guys? Can we all get back to, you know, making technology now?

A Cult of Mac report suggests that Apple is fully committing to the multitouch lifestyle and ceasing production of the Magic Mouse. Citing a “previously reliable source,” writer Alex Heath says that supplies of the Magic Mouse are dwindling and that means curtains for Apple’s handheld rodent.

But wait! Here's some good news for fans of mice—and as the people who bring you the mouse rating, we at Macworld definitely number among them. This report seems to be in error. Macworld’s sources say that Apple will continue to produce the Magic Mouse. It’s not being retired. Whew! That was a close one.

The ever-reliable DigiTimes says that Pegatron has won a contract to deliver 10 million iPhone 5s, due in September. Which is apparently down five million units from the last time DigiTimes reported this, in July. Where’d I put that salt?

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into the fact that iPad publication The Daily apparently has an unmanned drone that it’s been flying in the Midwest to capture aerial footage of regions affected by droughts and storms; operating the drone for commercial purposes may be a violation of current FAA policies. Okay, hold on: Rupert Murdoch has a UAV and we’re just hearing about this? This is like one step away from Tomorrow Never Dies.